Costco Wholesale (COST) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) is scheduled to announce its earnings results after the market closes on Thursday, December 14th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.31 per share for the quarter.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 5th. The retailer reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $42.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.55 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 22.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. On average, analysts expect Costco Wholesale to post $6 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Shares of Costco Wholesale (COST) opened at $188.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $82,184.63, a P/E ratio of 32.31, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale has a 52-week low of $150.00 and a 52-week high of $191.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 17th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 16th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.89%.

Several analysts have recently commented on COST shares. TheStreet raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, August 25th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $176.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 12th. Finally, UBS reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $179.50.

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director John W. Meisenbach sold 1,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.92, for a total transaction of $164,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,150,152.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard M. Libenson sold 2,350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.00, for a total transaction of $380,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,109 shares in the company, valued at $665,658. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,842 shares of company stock valued at $5,520,848. 0.74% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation is engaged in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Spain, and through its subsidiaries in Taiwan and Korea. As of August 28, 2016, the Company operated 715 warehouses across the world.